Readers' comments

No one should be surprised at Mr. Ortega’s power grab. It’s fully in keeping with the model imposed by Venezuela’s late leader Hugo Chávez on his country and subsequently exported to the member countries of the organization he created – ALBA, the so-called Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas, of which Nicaragua is a member along with Antigua & Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, St. Vincent & The Grenadines and, of course, Venezuela.

The ALBA model calls for:
• the dismissal of congress;
• empaneling a constitutional assembly tasked with writing a “new constitution” to enshrine the principles of the “people’s revolution” as enunciated by its leader;
• stuffing the Supreme Court with “yes” men whose job is to merely rubber-stamp all of the leader’s actions (thus giving them a veneer of legality);
• the removal of senior military officers and promotion of junior officers loyal to the “revolution”;
• the enactment of laws making it a “crime” for journalists & communications media to question the actions of the government;
• submitting thorny issues to a “national referendum” where ballot-box stuffing will guarantee the desired outcome;
• ruling by decree; etc. etc.

In keeping with the ALBA model, Mr. Maduro in Venezuela is following in his mentor’s footsteps, having recently asked the Venezuelan Supreme Court to be granted “extraordinary powers” to rule by decree. In Bolivia Mr. Morales will undoubtedly be "re-elected by popular acclaim” to another term in 2014. And so it goes.

Well expressed and so true ! If nobody has noticed Latin America is also going that way . Bolivia and Ecuador following the trend closely closing unfriendly media and changing the constitution . Any bets that Correa will stand again ? Argentina trying desperately to muzzle the opposition media group . Wanted to allow reelection but the last election stopped that . Uruguay governed by one who misses Chavez and considers the practical to be above the law. Brazil , one wonders what Rousseff would do if a strong commercial group did not stand in the way . Or an army which is loyal to the constituition . Chile will probably go the " Bolivarian " way if Bachelet wins next Sunday . That leaves Peru ,Colombia and Paraguay as bastions of democracy !